Oil well standing valve



Oct. 7, 1958 H. E. M GOWEN, JR., ETAL 2,854,929

O IL WELL STANDING VALVE Filed Feb. 24, 1956 f. MGowew, //1 5. f. 50/250INVENTORS BY QQILQM' United States Patent i OIL WELL STANDING VALVEHarold E. McGowen, Houston, and Douglas E. Daflin, Pasadena, Tex.,assignors to Cameo, incorporated, Houston, Ten, a corporation of TexasApplication February 24, 1956, Serial No. 567,622

Claims. (Cl. 103-221) This invention relates to an improvement instanding valves of the type commonly employed at the bottom of an oilwell for allowing production fluid to pass freely upwardly and forclosing against undesirable back flow. Occasionally it becomes necessaryto remove and check a valve assembly, and in order to avoid the need forpulling or completely removing the production pipe string from the wellat such time, a special landing or anchoring nipple may be incorporatedinitially in the pipe string for reception of a retrievable valveassembly which can be releasably chucked on the end of a suspension wireline and lowered or run into place and then released for suspension linewithdrawal, and which retrievable assembly after installation can at anytime be picked up and removed with the aid of a wire line pulling toolwhich, after being lowered within the tubing string to the level of thevalve, can be caused to grab or clutch itself to the valve unit forwithdrawal thereof. Inasmuch as the retrievable assembly is tightlyfitted and sealed in the landing nipple and supports the load of anupstanding column of production fluid which may be of considerableweight and height above the valve, a powerful pull on the suspensioncable may be called for, wherefore the pulling stress is apt to causeundue strain on and breakage of any of the wire line, the clutchingconnection, the valve unit, and the production string.

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved retrievablestructure operable to perform the normal function of a one-way standingvalve and having a pulling tool engageable formation and connected partswhich respond in the first increment of upward travel to a withdrawalforce to shift a part of the valve assembly in advance of the upwardbodily displacement of the nipple-landed portion of the valve assemblyand which preliminary response of the shifted part uncovers a bypassaround the check valve, so that the standing column of oil no longer istrapped above the valve assembly but can be displaced by flowing fromone side to the other of the valve assembly and free the valve assemblyfrom the fluid load. That load often is the major resistance to initialupward movement of the mounted valve assembly, and load removalfacilitates breaking loose the valve assembly for elevation within theproduction string upon further upward travel of the pulling tool.

A further object of the invention is to provide a simple but ruggedstanding valve which will be economical to manufacture and which ineffect involves only an inner hollow body to be fitted and sealed at itslower end in a landing nipple and an outer tube slidably sleeved on theupper portion of the inner tube for limited axial travel from a bottomposition in which it closes a valve by-pass to a top limit position inwhich it suspends the inner tube with the Dy-pass open. Such limits areestablished by interengaging abutment surfaces on a running toolconnector part constituted by a central pin axially aligned with themain flow passage through and at the upper terminal of the inner tubeand on a pulling tool connectorpart constituted by the upper terminalportion strict maximum flow-volume which, because of the fairly of theouter tube and sleeved on a necked portion of the pin. The outer tubeinitially is located in its lower limit by-pass closing position by areleasable shear pin connection, and, among other things, the lockingtogether of the parts maintains in alignment slot openings through bothtubes in continuation of the main flow passage through the inner tube,and the size of the openings and their locked alignment insures againstrestriction of fluid flow as controlled by the check valve caged withinthe inner tube.

Another object of the invention is to provide an outer tube or by-passcontrol valve which is balanced with respect to fluid pressures actingthereon and which is to say that the opposite upper and lower by-passvalve sur faces exposed to the weight of the standing fluid column areof substantially equal area, so that by-pass valve travel relative tothe main valve body encounters no appreciable resistance from the oilcolumn and by opening the bypass the main valve body also is relievedfrom column weight and frictional resistance otherwise offered.

Additional objects and advantages will become apparent during the courseof the following specification having reference to the accompanyingdrawing illustrating in vertical section the detail structure andinstallation of a preferred embodiment of the improved valvearrangement.

Referring to the drawings, a fragment of a production string is shown at1 as incorporating near its lower end a special landing nipple 2 whoseinside diameter is stepped to afford an upwardly facing annular landingseat or shoulder 3 between an upper portion of larger inside diameterapproximating that of the tubing string thereabove and a lower portionof slightly smaller inside diameter and whose interior surface isaccurately machined and polished to close tolerance for a snug or pressfit with a correspondingly finished mating surface of the valve body tobe located within the landing nipple. The nipple 2 is screwed, welded orotherwise coupled in end to end succession with the usual jointcomponents of the tubing string and forms a part thereof.

The valve assembly illustrated consists essentially of an inner tubularbody for seating a check valve against back flow in the passage throughthe body and for mounting at its lower end in the landing nipple 2 andan outer sleeve valve member slidably sleeved on the upper portion ofthe tubular body for limited upward travel from an initially fixedposition in which the slider sleeve valve closes a by-pass around thecheck valve. For conven ience of manufacture and assembly, the inner ormain valve body involves a number of separately formed parts secured, asby screw threads, in end to end succession. As shown, there is anintermediate tubular part 4 having opposite end portions externallyshouldered and reduced in diameter and respectively threaded into arounded nosed bottom piece or packing ring retaining nut 5 and an upperdomed piece or valve retaining cage 6. Clamped within an internalannular pocket between co-operating abutments on the valve cage 6 andthe upper end of the tubular member 4 is an external annular rib of arenewable valve seating ring 7, which may be of hardened metal andprovides an upwardly facing seat for a downwardly closing ball check 3.Above the ring seat 7, the doomed cage 6 is of an inside diameter toprovide an abundance of free flow clearance around the ball valve 8, andthe domed cage has in its upper and side walls one or more openings orflow passages therethrough communicating the valve cage with theproduction tubing above the valve unit. Three of such openings 9 equallyspaced apart circumferentially may be milled or otherwise formed, andtheir combined flow capacity should be equal to or greater than the flowclearance around the ball valve so as not to relarge size of the centralpassage through the assembly and the free clearance in the cage aroundthe ball, is intendedly quite large. Centrally of the upper end wall ofthe cage .6 is a screw threaded socket to receive the lower'end of anupstanding terminal pin it affording a connecting neck below the largerdiameter head or conical tip 11 which is for detachable connection witha running in or lowering tool by which the valve unit is suspended whileit is being dropped downwardly in the tubing string and landed in thelocating nipple.

For seal anchorage in the landing nipple, the tubular body 4 is ofstepped outside diameter to provide an intermediate downwardly facinglanding shoulder 12, and the outside diameter of the body portion belowthe shoulder as well as of the nose piece 5 approximates or is onlyslightly smaller than the inside diameter of the nipple below thelanding seat 3 for a close frictional fit, both to resist accidentaldisplacement and leakage of fluid. Immediately below the lowermostshoulder and surrounding the reduced end portion of the body 4 arelocated a stack of V-type packing rings 13 held in place by the end nutor nose piece 5 for co-operation with the interior surface of the nipple2 and with the ball check valve 3 in completing the seal against backflow of the upstanding fluid column within the production string abovethe valve assembly.

Upwardly from the landing seat 12, the larger diameter portion of thevalve body is somewhat smaller than the inside diameter of the adjoiningportions of the nipple and tubing string and provides clearance passagethere between, and in this region between the-landing seat and the ballvalve the wall of the tubular body 4 has one or more radially extendingports 14 drilled therethrough to communicate the annular clearance spacewith the central passage in the body below the valve as a secondary flowpassage or bypass around the one-way seated valve. Initially the bypass14 is covered and sealed by the outer valve or slide sleeve 15surrounding and closely fitted to the upper portion of the inner valvebody in overlapping relation with the by-pass, and additionally by apair of sealing O-rings 16 carried in annular grooves above and belowthe by-pass 14 in bearing engagement with the interior surface of thesleeve 15.

To uncover the overlapped ports 14, the sleeve must be telescopedupwardly on the main valve body. To that end, its upper portionterminates in an inwardly extending wall or cap overlying the similarend wall of the domed cage 6 and from which extends upwardly a tubularsleeve 17 slidably embracing the headed pin and having a headed tip IS.The length of the sleeve i7 is less than that of the pin 10, and theuppermost face of the domed cage 6 and the underside of the pin head 11afford abutment seats for opposite ends of the sleeve 17 in defining therange of relative slide travel of the outer sleeve member 15. Thatportion of the inwardly extending upper wall of the outer sleeve whichoverlies the domed cage is provided with openings or passages 19 similarto and in aligned co-operation with the openings 9. For maintaining theopenings 9 and 19 in alignment and for releasably retaining the by-passsleeve against accidental upward travel to bypass open position, theinner and outer valve members should be detachably connected againstrelative movement, as by means of a replaceable shear pin 20 throughaligned openings drilled through the head 18 and the pin it), with thesleeve positioned at its lower limit.

With the parts constructed as thus described, a lowering wire line toolcan be engaged with the terminal head 11 for lowering the parts downinto final position. When the valve assembly is to be removed, a pullingtool suspended on a wire line will be caused to overshoot the head 11and engage with the head 18 of the outer member. When so engaged, anupward force resisted by the close frictional lit of the body in thenipple and the fluid column load on the seated ball valve, will breakthe, shear pin 20,

4 and raise the outer member for the short distance within the limitbetween the heads 18 and 11 and thus move the bottom of the sleeve 15upwardly above the by-pass 14. In this connection, it is to be notedthat the upper and lower surfaces of the outer member are so constructedas to be of substantially equal area, and thus the valve is balanced asrespects the leader? the standing fluid column, and its upward traveldoes not have to be against the resistance of any of the fluid load.Uncovering of the ports opens a passageway around the exterior of thebody and through the wall into the passage below the valve and therebyrenders ineffective the normal action of the check valve, and moreparticularly it provides for a balance of pressures on the top andbottom surfaces of the entire valve assembly, so that further upwardpull of the wire line is not resisted by the fluid column weight, andfacilitates the upward displacement of the valve body without strainthat might otherwise be imposed on the parts by the need for lifting thefluid column for that initial increment of movement necessary to freethe valve assembly from the landing nipple.

While the foregoing description has been specific to the particularembodiment of the invention as illustrated, it is to be understood thatmodifications may be made as come Within the scope of the appendedclaims.

What is claimed is:

l. A standing valve for retrievable mounting in a well productionstring, including a body having a passage therethrough and a seat in thepassage for a one-way valve which acts against downward fluid flow, asealing surface on the body below said seat to engage a mating sealingsurface on a well production string, said body also having port meanstherein extending as a bypass around said seat and from the outside ofthe body above its sealing surface and into said passage below saidseat, a balanccd valve having upwardly facing and downwardly facingareas and normally closing said bypass and having a limited range ofupward travel relative to said body from by-pass closed position toby-pass opened position, the upwardly facing and downwardly facing areasof said balanced valve being substantially equal for a balance of fluidpressure thereon, stop means on the body engageable by said balancedvalve to establish its limit of 'up- Ward travel, said balanced valvehaving a coupling connector for pickup engagement by a pulling tool andtrans mission of upward pull to effect upward travel of the balancedvalve to bypass open position and thereafter to lift the balanced valveand the body as a unit.

2. A retrievable standing valve for wells, including a tubular bodywhose lower end is for sealed anchorage with a part of a well string andhas an internal passage therethrough and whose upper end includes anupwardly facing valve seat and a valve cage above said seat andterminates in a headed pin having reduced neck and being for detachablesuspension with a landing tool, a downwardly seating one-way valvecontained within the cage, said body in the region between said valveseat and said pin having an opening therethrough for fluid flow from thecage and said body in the region below said valve seat having a valveby-pass port extending from said passage to the outer periphery of thebody for fluid flow through said passage, a pulling tool engageablemember having an upper portion slidably sleeved on said neck portion ofthe pin within upper and lower limits defined by the length of the neckportion and having a lower portion slidably sleeved on the body inby-pass port overlapping and closing relation at the lower limit andmovable upwardly to uncover said by-pass port and also having aconnecting portion joining said upper and lower sleeved portions andbeing formed with a flow opening for co-operation with theaforementioned flow opening in the body and a releasable connectionbetween the body and said member retaining them against relative slidemovement from by-pass closing relation and with said flow openings inalignment with one another until.

such time as a irelease force is exerted through pulling tool engagementwith the upper sleeve portion.

3. In a standing valve unit for wells, an inner member to have sealedseating engagement with a well string and terminating upwardly in alanding tool engaging pin, said inner member having a main flow passagecontrolled by a one-way valve for retention of a standing fluid columnthereabove and a secondary passage in valve by-pass relation, an outersleeve member slidable upwardly on said inner member from a loweredposition closing said secondary passage to a raised position uncoveringsaid secondary passage and terminated upwardly in a pulling toolengageable head sleeved on said pin and a shearable pin connectionjoining the outer member to said inner member in said lowered passageclosing position.

4. In combination with a well production string landing nipple having anupwardly facing landing seat, a standing valve assembly adapted forconnection with a wire line for lowering and raising the standing valveassembly to and from seated position in the landing nipple, saidstanding valve assembly including a hollow valve body having a valvecage and a central pin projecting upwardly from the valve cage andterminating in a headed formation for releasable connection with a wireline lowering tool, a downwardly seated check valve contained within thecage, said cage having a flow opening through the wall thereof abovesaid check valve, a downwardly facing landing shoulder formed externallyon the valve body below said cage for co-operative engagement with saidupwardly facing nipple landing seat, said valve body below said cage andabove said landing shoulder having a port through the wall thereof, araising tool engageable tubular part sleeved on the upwardly projectedcentral pin and slidable on the pin between upper and lower limits, ashear pin connection between said pin and said tubular part holding thelatter at its lower limit until the shear pin is sheared in response toraising tool force applied to the tubular part, a sleeve slidably fittedto the valve body and fixed to said tubular part by an inwardlyextending wall overlying the wall of said cage and having a flow openingpositioned by reason of said shear pin connection in alignment with theflow opening through the cage wall, said sleeve in response to raisingtool force being slidable upwardly on the valve body away from aposition in which the sleeve overlaps and closes the aforementioned portin the shear pin held position of said tubular part and to a portopening position, and said sleeve, together with said inwardly extendingwall, and the tubular part in fixed relation to the sleeve havingopposed surfaces in balanced relation to fluid pressure applied thereto.

5. A wire line retrievable standing valve comprising slidablyinterfitted inner and outer members, the inner of which is a hollow bodyto be received at its lower end in a retaining nipple of a wellproduction string and having a domed valve cage at its upper end and acentral pin projecting upwardly from the domed cage to a wire linelowering tool connector formation and the outer of which members is atubular sleeve having a cap portion overlying said domed cage, a largediameter lower sleeve portion slidable on said body and a small diameterupper sleeve portion slidable on said pin between upper and lower limitsand provided with a wire line pulling tool connector formation, adownwardly seated check valve contained within the cage to close saidhollow body, said cage and said cap portion having aligned fluid flowopenings therethrough above the seated check valve and said hollow bodybelow the check valve having a lateral port through the wall thereofpositioned to be closed by said large diameter sleeve portion at thesleeve lower limit and to be uncovered for by-passing fluid around saidcheck valve at the sleeve upper limit.

6. The standing valve of claim 5, together with a shear pin connectionjoining the inner and outer members at the lower sleeve limit and whichshears in response to Wire line pulling tool force transmitted to saidpulling tool connector.

7. The valve of claim 5 wherein the outer member presents upwardly anddownwardly facing surfaces for exposure to fluid pressure insubstantially balanced relation to one another.

8. In a wire line retrievable standing valve, a hollow body having alower landing portion and an upper re duced diameter central pinprojected upwardly and terminated in a lowering tool connector head, adownwardly seating check valve contained within the hollow body to closethe same against fluid downflow, the wall of said body between itslanding portion and said check valve having an opening therethrough forby-passing fluid downflow around said standing valve, means normallyclosing the by-pass opening including a tubular portion slidably sleevedon said reduced diameter pin between upper and lower limits and providedwith a dependent sleeve slidably fitted to the hollow body inoverlapping relation to said by-pass opening at the lower slide limit ofsaid tubular portion, said tubular portion having a pulling toolconnector head for response to upward pull of a wire line pulling headconnected thereto to first raise the sleeve for uncovering said by-passopening and later raise the hollow body therewith by abutment of thetubular portion with the pin terminal head defining the upper slidelimit of said tubular portion.

9. In a standing valve to be retrievably mounted in a well productiontubing, a valve body having a passage therethrough and a port extendingfrom the passage to the outside of the body, sealing means on theoutside of the body below said port for sealing engagement with aproduction tubing in the mounted position of the standing valve, asleeve overlapping said port to close the same and being slidableupwardly on the body to uncover said port, a coupling member on the bodyabove said sleeve for member attachment directly to a lowering tool andwithout tool connection with the port overlapping sleeve, a check valveclosing said passage above said port against fluid downflow, a couplingmember on the sleeve for member attachment to a pulling tool and throughwhich said sleeve is lifted relative to the body on a first increment ofupward travel of said attached pulling tool and abutment stops on thebody and the sleeve arranged in spaced apart relation when the sleeve isin overlapping relation with said port and engageable with one anotherupon occurrence of said first increment of pulling tool travel tothereby carry the body upwardly with the sleeve upon further upwardtravel of the pulling tool.

10. In a standing valve as defined in claim 9 wherein said body and saidsleeve have aligned openings therethrough for communicating the passageabove the check valve with the outside of the sleeve and a breakableconnection immobilizing the sleeve on the body to maintain said openingsin alignment in the absence of a sleeve sliding upward pull exerted onthe sleeve coupling member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,644,998 Gunn et al. Oct. 11, 1927 1,956,112 Willoughby Apr. 24, 19342,131,299 Reagin Sept. 27, 1938 2,752,861 Hill July 3, 1956

